bleachfanfictionfandomcom-20200223-history
Zakura Terui
|name = Zakura Terui Tsukasa Tsugami |kanji = 照井・本桜 津上・阜 |romaji = Terui Zakura Tsugami Tsukasa |race = Crimson Sovereign |birthday = September 10 |age = 21 (physical age) 3000+ (true age) |gender = Male |height = 161 cm |weight = 33 kg |eyes = Gold |hair = Pink |blood type = O |affiliation = Himself |previous affiliation = Crimson Sovereign race |occupation = None |previous occupation = Emperor of the Crimson Sovereigns |team = None |previous team = Chess Four |partner = Yuuki Kaburagi |previous partner = Mujaki Zetsurin |base of operations = Amanogawa City |marital status = In A Relationship |relatives = Yukiko Tsugami (Sister; deceased) Zakura Terui (Half-brother) |education = Basic |status = Alive | shikai = Kyokuhiryūen | bankai = Tenmashittsui Kyokuhiryūen | release = Shunokigen Mokishirokuryū; Shinakaryū Shintei}} Zakura Terui (照井・本桜, Terui Zakura; Shining Beauty amongst the Cherry Blossoms) is the Emperor of the Crimson Sovereigns and the former duotagonist of Bleach: Rising Phoenix. In his character arc, Zakura fought to maintain peace and stability in the world and protect spiritual beings and Crimson Sovereigns alike from threats, though Zakura would like nothing better than the opportunity to stop fighting. During his tale, he was found washed ashore naked by Yuuki Kaburagi, near the Walls of Eyes in Rukongai. He showed symptoms of amnesia, as he is unable to identify himself, nor where he lives. He eventually took up the name addressed on a letter which he found on the beach along with him, "Zakura Terui". As it turns out, Zakura's real name was Tsukasa Tsugami (津上・阜, Tsugami Tsukasa; Chief of the God of the Harbor); and "Zakura" was a split personality carved by Tsukasa to achieve his goals unawares—however, through interactions with those he cares about, "Zakura Terui" became real, and eventually, turned into the dominant personality; with Tsukasa sealing himself, along with Mujaki Zetsurin, away in the collapsing lair of the Crimson Sovereign's homeworld, Akasekai. Because of his aversion to violence, Zakura is seen as a pushover to many of his opponents, though when sufficiently angered, it is generally assumed that Zakura has even more power than Gai Nagareboshi. He is known as the "Dragon-Blooded Knight" (竜血の騎士, Ryūketsu no Kishi) to his foes. Appearance Zakura bears the appearance of a young, very feminine male with a petite and slender frame, much like a woman's, and soft light brown eyes. He has rosy light pink hair which goes down to his waist, and is tied up in a simple braid, and has two bangs going down to his chin. His treasured hair ornaments, which seem like something a princess would wear, are an "irresistible proof of love" which were given to him by his "dear deceased mother", apparently. Zakura's beauty has spurned many a joke that Zakura is the "Second Most Beautiful Woman in Soul Society", even though he is, well, male. The one with the position of the first is a certain someone. This tends to irk Zakura greatly, though he is not ashamed of his beauty, as he often flaunts it and uses it to manipulate men and women alike to get what he wants. As Tsukasa, Zakura was very much so a "knight in shining armour"; in both appearance, and personality to a much smaller extent. Possessing a elegant and somewhat muscular frame, he has spiked stark-white hair and cold, light-blue eyes. He is also adorned in silver armour. In his true form, Zakura is a large, mostly crimson, serpent-like creature with red-tipped, rudder-like wings on his shoulders and down his body, and similarly-patterned fins on the tip of its tail. Golden ring-like symbols run across the length of Zakura's body and he has an additional golden ring on top of his head. Zakura has two limbs with three-clawed carpals, and two long, flat, horn-like structures on his head, with two smaller horns below them. Zakura has a prominent gumline, with only two discernible fangs on the tip of his upper snout; the other teeth seem to be covered completely by gum tissue. He has small, yellow eyes with black pupils. Personality and Traits Zakura is a kind and courteous young man, being incredibly kind-hearted and friendly; he has the desire to make friends with everyone who he meets. He is easily amused, and most of the time, he comes off as somewhat thick-headed and idiotic. Despite often coming off as happy-go-lucky in his personality, Zakura is actually quite strong-willed and was easily able to pick up on the fact he could use the fact that Yuuki is in love with him to keep her from going berserk on anything in sight. Zakura is primarily extremely courageous and just, choosing to fight because he wanted to help and do the right thing. Zakura is rather goofy and air-headed, verging on a lighter type of insanity; however, this is mostly an act to get others to not worry about him as much. He is willing to go the extra mile and do bizarre things to get to know someone he wants to befriend better. He puts friendship above anything else and values every friend that he has, to the point of bawling his eyes out whenever he hears a sad story of someone he considers a friend. While he has a good heart, he is hot-blooded and will often act straight-forwardly without thinking about the repercussions of his actions, which often leads to him making mistakes, as Zakura will fight to protect anyone in need, even complete strangers and at the risk of his own life; though he always attempts to find alternative solutions instead of violence. However, one thing to note is that Zakura can be a bit of a blabbermouth; prone to speaking on and on until those involved lose all rationality. His words, through no ill intent on his part, have a way of meandering toward maximum social awkwardness; of course, many find his awkwardness completely endearing instead of unnerving. Though Zakura fights with all his might, he is a pacifist at heart, and would like nothing more than the fighting to be over, and for Crimson Sovereigns and spiritual being to coexist peacefully next to each other; which is something he's always wished, even before getting amnesia. He cares deeply for victims of war and for his friends who've fought so long with him. Although he's constantly conflicted with the battles he must fight, he eventually begins to come to terms with it and understands that he must indeed fight for the peace he desires to be a reality. Zakura, like Gai, has an incredible appetite. In addition, he occasionally reads common topics he finds interesting which sometimes will turn into an obsession that overwhelms him until he knows everything about that subject, often getting in the way of tasks; in this way, Zakura is rather "special" in the fact that while rather ditzy, he is thoroughly competent and likes people to underestimate him so that achieving his goals is much more satisfying. He is also known for his catchphrase "Everything is Fabulous!" (すべてが素晴らしいです！, "Subete ga subarashīdesu!") Amusingly, whenever the word 'fabulous' comes out of Zakura's mouth, they always appear multicoloured without fail. In addition, when throwing down with a particularly strong foe, Zakura tends to declare, "Let's settle this man-to-man!" (者はこの男から男を解決しよう！, "Mono wa kono otoko kara otoko o kaiketsu shiyō!") History Crimson Sovereigns are a race of beings copied from Tsukuyomi, the ultimate being of the moon. Long ago Akasekai had no defense mechanism against humanity, nothing to keep them in check. Thus Tsukuyomi came down and offered to help the realm make a race of ultimate beings to rule over humanity, thus resulting in them being the 'consciousness of Akasekai. Crimson Sovereigns likened to occurrences such as earthquakes and typhoons rather than individuals as their "...actions, while evil and without justification, would come as naturally to him (Zakura and other Crimson Sovereigns) as breathing." However the race was flawed, they had a desire to drink blood that the original had. The Crimson Sovereigns needed to use a large portion of their power to suppress this impulse, but as there was no cure, and with passage of time the impulse grew, more and more Crimson Sovereigns fell and began drinking blood indiscriminately, while others most likely went into eternal sleep. In order to rule them all and keep the rest of the Crimson Sovereigns in place, Tsukuyomi created a picture-perfect avatar of herself, and infused a collective amount of powers and memories into this dull husk, creating Tsukasa Tsugami who originated from nothingness; realizing the goal of "the strongest Crimson Sovereign"; the Dragon. He was created with a unique soul that allowed him to think, feel and act completely on his own. They used Tsukasa's great strength to make him into a god-king, the executioner of the fallen Crimson Sovereigns. According to Kazuma Nagareboshi, this happened in the 12th century AD, when the number of fallen Crimson Sovereigns was off the charts. Tsukasa was used as a figurehead to clash against Soul Society and the Seishin homeworld; facing both Kazuma Nagareboshi and Nanaya Wanijima in a battle that lasted for six days and six nights, before being defeated. The two gods of their respective dimensions informed him about how he was being used by the lesser people to fulfill their desire for war. Even so, Tsukasa forced the two to agree to his terms of peace—however, before they could negotiate, the King of the Chess Four, Koumori, stabbed Tsukasa in the back and exiled him to Soul Society, as he claimed Tsukasa's title of Emperor, declaring the Crimson Sovereigns the superior species. Fortunately, a scarlet-haired woman with a devil-like air appeared and sealed Koumori back into Akasekai. Even so, Tsukasa was absolutely horrified. Cutting off his connections with Tsukasa's own kind, he decided to send one last letter to his half-brother, Zakura Terui. With Nika's assistance, he planned to render himself amnesiac, without sending the letter. Subconsciously, he knew that he'd give it to him if he saw him amnesia or not. Of course, if he retained all his memories from his time as Emperor, he would be wracked with the guilt of his actions. Realizing that the world wouldn't be safe as long as he was still active, his elder sister, Yukiko Tsugami sealed him away in a capsule that would test the reliability of his mind to prove his maturity. Unfortunately, the system tests would take approximately 500 years to complete, and Yukiko knew that she—along with the rest of the Crimson Sovereigns, would not be in Akasekai by then. With this in mind, she recorded a warning addressed to any future benefactors to not open the capsule until the tests were completed. Because he rendered himself amnesiac and sealed his powers away as well, Tsukasa's body changed drastically—gone was the tall and handsome figure of the Emperor of the Crimson Sovereigns with flowing locks of white hair, and in it's place was a short and highly feminine young man with cute pink hair. This change in appearance signified the complete loss of his memories. In the present time (Rising Phoenix's timeline), Tsukasa awoke from the capsule and was washed onto the shores of Amanogawa beach, holding the letter he intended to deliver. Due to a mix-up, Tsukasa himself believed that he was Zakura Terui. Synopsis : Main Article: Bleach: Rising Phoenix *The Metamorphosis of Youth *Invincible Firefly *Waking Up *True Acceleration *In Case You Forgot *From A Different Side *Truth and Lies *Dive into the Soul *A Fate Sealed Rising Phoenix: Broken Mirror Since the universal reset, Zakura and Yuuki were separated—while Yuuki's soul had reincarnated into that of Abbacchio Leone, Zakura remained exactly the same. While he is still searching for his love, he does spend most of his time as a farmer out in the country who has an admiration for horses; the reason for this is because he believes that "horses are pure". After Clarissa Bucciarati separates from the main group after a scuffle with Vittoria Giovanna; she wanders off on her own before collapsing; Zakura brings her back to his ranch, where he tends to her wounds. Soon after she awakens, Zakura asks what her reason to fight is—when she is unable to answer, she turns the question back on him; though Zakura simply responds "To find my love once more and protect her until the end of time", which shakes Clarissa up quite a bit. There, Zakura offers to teach Clarissa his skills and mentor her—successfully, he manages to awaken her Sixth Sense; which unlocks her fulgurkinesis—an ability of her previous incarnation. In addition, he gives her a sample of her blood, making her attacks part-Crimson Sovereign in nature, meaning that they now drain spiritual power from the foe. After training he bids farewell to Clarissa, telling her to never give up on Vittoria, as unwavering resolve is the purest form of love. Equipment Twin Blades of the Emperor (双刃の皇帝, "Sōjin no Kōtei"): These blades are passed down from each Emperor of the Crimson Sovereigns to the next; they, by themselves are a sign of royalty; being crafted by Tsukasa Tsugami when he took up his reign of the Emperor of the Crimson Sovereigns. Together, the blades appear similar to rapiers; they both possess elongated hilts and fine features. While they are the length of a two-handed sword each, Zakura effortlessly wields both with precision and finesse with both hands. Due to Zakura being a split personality of Tsukasa, he is accepted as the ideal user, he has yet to fully master the full potential of the blades. The blades possess immense power; including the ability to control time and space; capable of cleaving the fabric of time and space itself. *'Flamberge' (炎刃剣 (フランヴェルジュ), furanvueruju, Japanese for "Flame-Bladed Sword", English for "Flamberge"): The first blade of the pair; it is a broadsword-like weapon with an undulating blade, which resembles a kris. Patterned upon the blade are numerous golden markings which are in runic text; Zakura notes that this is the ancient language of the Crimson Sovereigns. In actuality, from the moment that Flamberge is unsheathed, a thin layer of spiritual particles attach themselves to it, before they quickly whirl around at high speeds, simulating a chainsaw-like effect which drastically increases its cutting power. Of course, Zakura can use his own Crimson Sovereign powers to set off a chain reaction in the iron which composes the blades, igniting the blade in silver flames which allows Zakura to unleash a series of fire-element techniques. *'Fimbulvetr' (厳冬, (フィンブルヴェト) finburuveto, Japanese for "Harsh Winter", English for "Fimbulvetr"): The second blade of the pair; it is a curved scimitar with an azure blade. However, it possesses two reinforced parallel blades, set a small distance apart from each other. The design's intent is to trap an opponent's blade between them and disarm them. These blades are seemingly composed entirely of water. Fimbulvetr's special ability is the polar opposite of its sister blade's; it is designed to repel spiritual particles. Then, it transfers what it has repelled to Flamberge, augmenting its power. Kurueru Tsuki (狂える月, Lunatic Moon) is the name of Zakura's horn which normally hangs upon his belt. However, it increases in size when activated, becoming large enough to enclose his lithe body. Its sound can scare off even the fiercest of animals including even Hollows, striking fear into their hearts, and it could even disrupt even the flow of spiritual energy by infusing Zakura's own spiritual powers into the horn and then blowing into it. When in doubt, it can be used as an impromptu bludgeon. The horn was forged from the densest of materials and seki-sekki, which is what makes it especially deadly to spiritual beings as it can release a blood-curdling sound which can harness the materials utilized in its construction, causing the sound released by the horn to negate any spiritual projectiles. Hidden Blade (隠し剣, Kakushiken): Zakura's secret weapon; only available when he is using Tsukasa's body. It is utilized for stealthy kills; as it is a retractable blade in conjunction with a protective bracer. As such, the blade can be discreetly extended or retracted, making it a valuable tool for silent killing. There is a small rotating wheel which twists forward when Zakura releases the blade, enabling the blade to shoot forward at high speeds in order to swiftly impale his desired target without any problems. Of note is that the Hidden Blade is constructed with a pivot mechanism, which allows it to change orientation and be used in a manner similar to a dagger; and since there is a metal plate mounted on the opposite side of the blade, it can also be utilized defensively. Powers and Abilities Master Swordsmanship Specialist: In comparison to Gai, Zakura utilizes a more delicate style of Zanjutsu: swinging his blade with impunity and finesse to the point that it appears that he is dancing elegantly. It could be said that he moves his blades like butterflies, allowing them to sting like bees, though when this allusion is made, Zakura complains that he strikes with the speed and force of the dragon. When wielding his blades, Zakura focuses on precision and efficiency over wild, sweeping motions, enabling him to defend himself against an opponent with minimal effort, while placing a heavy focus on avoiding his own disarmament. His style is elegant and focused, utilizing balance and footwork to outmaneuver opponents with fluid motions rather than strength, leading to Zakura heavily utilizing jabs and light cuts rather than hack and slash movements; overall, his Zanjutsu style is elegant. Zakura also has the ability to alter the strength of both of his arms that swing his blades, giving him the ability to befuddle the opponent; and because of his incredible speed and strength, a single swing of his blades are capable of cutting an opponent, even at a fair distance away. Befitting his pacifistic ideals, Zakura often purposely avoids striking the foe's vital parts (those that can cause severe damage). Instead he only incapacitates them or otherwise prevents them from continuing a fight. *'Nitōryū' (二刀流, Two Sword Style): Nitōryū is exactly as the name meaning is: it enables Zakura to wield two blades at the same time. It is an extremely powerful sword style; given by the simple math of "A single sword has a power of one hundred. Therefore, two swords have a power of two hundred." The manner of this dual wielding varies; he is capable of utilizing both blades in a reverse grip, in addition to the regular style. With this style, Zakura becomes an overwhelming offensive force; he can spin in a manner similar to a buzz-saw, or else employing a series of unrelenting attacks switching the locations as well as the blades with which he attacks, leaving no openings; even creating a ring of damage just by twirling the blades in a circle. When utilizing this style, Zakura is known to be extremely difficult to predict; as both swords do not work in tandem; rather attacking from all angles as to confuse the opponent. Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: While Zakura's forte is in Zanjutsu, he has nonetheless shown incredible prowess in the art of Hakuda. Zakura is a master of Bāguàzhǎng; a Chinese martial art, which is a rather uncanny fighting style. Because he is a practitioner of Bāguàzhǎng; Zakura is granted the perfect fighting style for him; as it requires swift footwork, something he takes in stride due to his uncannily high speed. With every blow that Zakura unleashes, he deals tremendous internal damage to his foe by causing his attacks to impact upon the foe's pressure points at the exact angle, which allows him to assault their organs without fail—but outwardly, it seems that Zakura's physical attacks are unable to inflict any visible damage; but if Zakura strikes his foe hard enough, he can trigger a violent internal explosion. Because of his mastery of this art, Zakura is able to alter, affect, and even disrupt the flow of spiritual energy in the foe, via blunt attacks, sending his kinetic energy through his limbs and into the opponent's body, drastically weakening their joints and causing irregularities in their internal and external powers, essentially sending his own spiritual energy into them, and causing their spiritual energy to surrender to his; making his foe's attacks unable to deal any damage at all. It should be noted that Zakura's style of hand-to-hand combat sharply contrasts Gai's own; while Gai prefers to beat his foes into bloody paste using his fists, Zakura's way of fighting is about elegance and preciseness. *'Gunhira' (軍平, "Force Palm"): A technique which is inspired from the Bāguàzhǎng style of martial arts; throwing the punch from the drawn-arrow stance. This technique builds up immense momentum through high levels of rotational force, along with his precise control over his own spiritual energy. This causes Zakura's spiritual energy to rotate continuously throughout his body and in his palms, with the energy being much faster than the normal spiritual cycle. Zakura, at any moment, can then strike the air itself with his palm, causing a large amount of spiritual power to dash forward and increase the pressure to the point where it creates a considerably powerful shockwave; the punch itself is an overhead smash, digging into the heart with wrist bent and elbow facing downward. The end result can lead to cardiac arrest from blunt trauma to the heart. Although powerful, it does take some time to prepare, though with constant rotation in movement and exceptional mastery over ones spiritual energy, one can bypass this limitation. *'The Dempsey Roll' (ザ •デンプシー •ロール, za denpushī rōru): The Dempsey Roll is a technique developed and used by real-life boxer William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey. Zakura later utilized it to defeat Shiroya in Crimson Blood when he was left disarmed. With it, Zakura lowers his stance and central balance to begin with and begins to aggressively weave his body in a pattern similar to the shape of a figure eight, making it increasingly difficult for the opponent to track and trace his movements accurately. Zakura then fires (starting from either left or right) series of rapidly executed punches whilst continuing his bobbing and weaving, catching the target in a high paced barrage of punches that few succeed on escaping from. Zakura was initially not willing to use the technique, as it is more suited to Gai's fighting style, who Zakura abhors with a passion, but with no other options left, he had no choice. *'Urāte' (裏当て, Reverse Striking): By focusing his spiritual energy, Zakura shifts the point and force of any impact by striking the absolute center of his target, which can range from inanimate to living beings. Zakura can transmit the force of impact wherever he pleases; all of this can only be possible as long as there's a medium to transmit his power through. Upon focusing his spiritual energy and striking his target's center, his spiritual energy forms a small hole in his target, before creeping into their bodily systems and reaching the brain, connecting Zakura and his foe's minds for the briefest of moments, making the foe believe that Zakura has struck them in any other position he wishes—their body acts up and becomes damaged in that position to make such an illusion an reality. Against inanimate objects, Zakura can just utilize this technique in its intended manner without any further preparation, resulting in the object of desire gaining the properties and strength of Zakura's own spiritual energy, which is more than often enough to deflect many a strike. Urāte is the core of many a spiritual energy-based hand-to-hand technique utilized by Zakura. **'Tashinga' (針功牙, Forged Iron Fang): A technique invented to supplement Urāte upon realizing its usefulness. Quickly, Zakura gathers and converges his rotational force while in motion, before shaping it into the form of a serrated claw superimposed upon his Zanpakutō which is coincidentally also a claw, forged by his own spiritual energy. Without any hesitation, that compressed atmospheric force is focused from that high-speed twirling into a one-way-road from the claw and unleashed in a thrusting motion with a single-hand knife strike by utilizing Urāte, allowing Zakura to transmit his own spiritual energy through the air, releasing it in a powerful wave of destruction towards his foe. Zakura comically refers to it as a Kamehameha upon the first time he utilizes it, which is the signature technique of Dragon Ball's Son Goku. Kidō Master: Due to Yuuki Kaburagi mentoring him in the art, Zakura has highly advanced knowledge of Kidō and the flow of spiritual energy to the point that he can mix Kidō with other fighting techniques. Augmenting his latent skills in the Demon Way is the knowledge he obtained from decades of studying and practicing until the point that he could cast up to level #88 Hadō without incantation, and he can apply powerful protection spells to his person while in battle as to make sure he is never surprised; he can employ spells with gargantuan strength and monstrous speed. What is known is that he commonly uses low-level spells to bind his opponents, no matter their strength, before employing incantation-strengthened Kidō to destroy them outright. However; he is known to rarely employ Kidō because of their nature to be indiscriminate. Zakura is able to cast Kidō up to the high #80's range without the need for an incantation without any loss of power. While Zakura is knowledgeable in all parts of the Demon Way sans healing, his favourite method of utilization of Kidō is the Destruction Way, which enables him to destroy anything that irks him in his path. Additionally, he is highly proficient in elemental spells. He is also an expert at developing new spells and new ways of using old spells, and an expert at delayed spells. *'Unlimited Rotation' (アンリミテッド ローテーション, Anrimiteddo Rōtēshon): This is a unique style of Kidō casting that Zakura developed by himself; it is activated by possessing the spiritual energy needed, before converting it into a spell and then unleashing it; it is based on exploding fireworks and rotating stars, all of which cause nature interference. The motions that the spells have vary from fluid to fluctuating—as he generates spiritual energy from his ribs, by the time it passes through his limbs, the spell is already in a conceptualized form that is expelled in a manner that gives both his arms and legs the spitting image of rocket burners to those on the receiving end of the spell; it is noted that when utilizing Unlimited Rotation, Zakura mixes martial arts into the style, giving it maximum effectiveness. Crimson Step Master (クリムゾンステップ,'' Kurimuzon Suteppu''): The Crimson Sovereign variant of Flash Steps; when utilizing Crimson Step, Zakura continuously recycles spiritual energy in the atmosphere and sends the gathered energy through his feet in a permanent cycle of revolving, giving his feet a blazing crimson glow and enabling Zakura to utilize a constant version of high-speed augmentation, giving him the ability to skate through the ambient spiritual particles which are dispersed the atmosphere without anything impeding his progress; moving at such speeds to the point that it almost impossible to catch him via one's eyesight, rendering him very much unable to spot, no matter how hard one tries to. In addition, activation of Crimson Step turns Zakura into a highly destructive projectile when he accelerates to extremely high speeds. The use of Crimson Step also allows Zakura to defy gravity if he wishes, zipping about at insurmountably tremendous velocities; while using extremely skilled acrobatics that make even Shunpō Grandmasters unable to keep up with the Emperor of Crimson Sovereigns. *'Homing Attack' (ホーミングアタック, Hōmingu Atakku): The Homing Attack is a powerful technique that Zakura derived from Crimson Step; Zakura allows the spiritual energy that he is recycling to trail up in order to cover his entire body, before compressing to its utmost limit, enabling it to temporarily manipulate his limbs as if he were a marionette. There, he curls up into a ball, and ascends into the sky; before decompressing the spiritual energy that surrounds him rapidly, unleashing a powerful sonic boom that destroys everything around him as the force of the sonic boom launches Zakura forward, homing into the nearest foe with a target-seeking midair seeking spin attack; the force of the Homing Attack enables him to bounce off targets, giving him the ability to chain multiple Homing Attacks to attack his foe over and over, or assault multiple opponents at high speeds. The aftereffects of the Homing Attack generate a miniature tornado that can flip foes over to reveal a weak spot, or to blow away their defenses, leaving them vulnerable. Tremendous Strength: Of course, because of his origins, Zakura has displayed a truly staggering amount of physical prowess, up to and including slicing the top half of a mountain off with a swing of Flamberge; and with his bare hands, he can split the hydrogen in the air to cause a small explosion. The sheer force of his blows are more than enough to knock even the sturdiest of foes off their feet; in addition, more often than not, Zakura is able to fight back the assaults of his foes with a single arm almost effortlessly. Zakura also displays enough strength to kick a fully-grown man through a building composed of seki-sekki; his frightening strength was displayed better in his fight with Kyogi Toushi, where he slammed him over his shoulder one-handedly, before gripping his seven foot tall sword with one hand and dragging him into close range so he could smack him upside the head with a roundhouse kick. Another feat of strength is that he can punch the ground with enough force to cause fissures. Zakura's strength enables him to perform other amazing feats such as punching holes right through thick steel, shatter boulders to smithereens and lift objects many times his own size and weight. Tremendous Speed: The blood of the Crimson Sovereigns courses through Zakura's veins, granting him mind-blowing speed which can be considered almost unsurpassed. Zakura's speed enables him to jump to the top of lamp posts with ease, leap from rooftop to rooftop and match the speed of even Gai, if he were around by the time that he achieved such power. He can effectively use his agility to use the battlefield to his advantage, jumping from wall to wall to keep his opponents unsure of his attack patterns. Zakura moves at such a speed that his foes more often than not can't register his movements, until he's made them; he's also skilled enough to dodge at tremendous speeds, even if he's assaulted from behind. It should be noted that a burst of crimson is emitted from his feet with every step he takes, augmenting his speed even further. Zakura is capable of defying normal physics and zipping around with tremendous speed; and is able to move backwards at full speed just as well as forwards. Due to such speed, he is able to scale right up the walls of buildings, or similar structures, and can also run right over water. Of course, his speed is enhanced with his jet boots; with them active, his movement creates the illusion that he is skating. This is because the jets on the soles of the jet boots propel him forward at a constant pace, but he moves as if he is simply skating along the ground. *'Enhanced Reflexes': Zakura is amazingly well coordinated, as he is able to catch bullets in mid-air; his tremendous reflexes, agility and speed usually enables him to dodge many a powerful projectile while balancing himself on one hand. He is also able to skillfully and acrobatically dodge a barrage of blasts; even by performing a side jump, and if the foe knocks him off a building, he is able to launch himself off of a few small falling rocks back towards his foe with ease. He is also incredibly precise, as he is able to remove small objects from a person's skull without damaging the person's brain in any way. Due to being so small and spry, Zakura is highly flexible in battle- able to perform one-handed backflips, somersaults, and mid-air cartwheels with little effort in terms of physical strain. Zakura is also known for rolling around on the ground to evade foes' attacks, as well as being able to perform multiple spins and tricks in mid-air. Immense Durability: Zakura's durability is positively staggering; possessing possesses a level of endurance that is near Gai's skill, mostly due to his heritage, but it should be noted that it is in no small part thanks to his training; showing tremendous resilience to physical damage. His durability enables him rise from attack after attack after attack on numerous occasions, more often than not surprising and confounding his foe, striking fear into their hearts. He can smash several barriers of seki-sekki with his fist without showing any sign of pain or injury. In addition, Zakura shows a high tolerance towards pain; during his fight with Kyogi Toushi, he refused to stop charging at his foe after his arm had been twisted beyond repair. This durability increases a hundred fold if Yuuki is in danger; showing he's able to take several blasts of compressed air to protect Yuuki from Kyogi's fierce attack. It has been hinted that Zakura's masochistic tendencies contribute to his high level of durability. It is also worth noting that, for nearly all the battles Zakura has endured, he has never been crippled, nor has he displayed any serious injuries. Immense Spiritual Power: As a cast off of the strongest Crimson Sovereign alive, Zakura possesses absolutely monstrous spiritual power. Despite the energy of the Crimson Sovereigns being life energy, they also possess tremendous amounts of spiritual energy, a fact that Zakura proves without a doubt. While Zakura usually keeps it under control, when sufficiently angered, the Crimson Sovereign can release it to its full extent in the form of a strong surge of energy. Due to his unique origins, Zakura's spiritual power is unlike anything ever felt before, unless if it's by another Crimson Sovereign. The presence it exudes is completely at odds with his personality and appearance; the spiritual pressure itself is a vibrant pink and pitch-black, crackling intensely when Zakura focuses; when Zakura's power is at it's peak, it transforms into the frightening visage of a Chinese dragon which surrounds him, striking fear into the hearts of his foes. It should be noted that due to his reality-bending power as the Emperor of Crimson Sovereigns, Zakura's spiritual pressure has the secondary effect of drawing entire areas under its influence to the point of disrupting energy attacks from enemies, as well as affecting others from what is quite possibly miles away. *'Elemental Resistance': Due to his natural element of flame, Zakura is resistant to both extreme heat and severe cold; being able to withstand subzero temperature with relative ease; even if it is deeply rooted in the surrounding air. In addition, Zakura is unable to be burned by weaker fire-element techniques; which is shown by him taking the brunt of Ahatake Kurosaki's flames which seemed to make Zakura think about food more than harm him; though Ahatake does say that if he used his Bankai, then Zakura would have had to dodge immediately, which Zakura confirms. The reason for this is as an artificially-created Crimson Sovereign birthed by Tsukuyomi, he is resistant to most elements. *'Z-Buster' (ゼットバスター, Zetto Basutā): The Z-Buster is a personalized arm cannon that Zakura manifests by pumping spiritual energy into his right hand and then solidifying it while keeping the image of an arm cannon in mind, essentially forming the Z-Buster from pure willpower and spiritual energy. Zakura can transform any of his arms into a powerful arm cannon to attack, and has an spiritual energy amplifier that allows it to be charged up and release a more powerful shot. The Z-Buster releases highly condensed blasts of white light that can burn the surrounding area it comes into contact with, and even leave those who stare at it temporarily blind; it has a high rate of fire, enabling Zakura to overwhelm his foes with a near continuous stream of blasts. Crimson Sovereign Abilities As the Emperor of the Crimson Sovereigns and thus the most powerful, Zakura possesses a tremendous amount of control over his natural impulses as a blood-sucking fiend, and with his blood coursing through his veins, Zakura possesses drastically enhanced speed, strength, and durability; there are few who can match him in all areas. It should be noted, due to being a natural-borne Crimson Sovereign, Zakura does not enter a 'Crimson Sovereign' form, instead having access to all of these abilities at any time; and as such, he is able to call upon them at any time he wishes. While there are different levels of power in the Crimson Sovereign hierarchy, Zakura as a sublimation on the level of Tsukuyomi, is beyond all of the other Crimson Sovereigns, much like a God, as a spirit in flesh. *'Haemokinesis' (血能力) (ハエモキネシス), haemokinesisu, Japanese for "Blood Power", English for "Haemokinesis"): A natural Crimson Sovereign ability is the ability to control and manipulate blood; of the user or others. Zakura can generate excessive amounts of blood and manipulate, bring to life, solidify and otherwise control it, whether the blood is his own, from his surroundings, or from someone else. Zakura can also control the state that blood is in; enabling him to solidify blood though forming a seal of sorts around it with his spiritual energy to form powerful tools and weapons as a substitute for his blades as well replicate himself though an (so far) unknown method, making carbon copies of the one and only Zakura Terui for diversions. There are many more applications of Haemokinesis; however, Zakura thusfar has only utilized the ability for pure offensive purposes. *'Dragon Shot' (竜力弾 (ドラゴンシ・ョット), doragonshotto, Japanese for "Dragon Power Bullet"): Due to his Crimson Sovereign form, Zakura possesses the characteristics of a dragon; their strengths and weaknesses. Because of this, he has much trouble with anti-dragon tools. Due to these attributes, Zakura possesses incredible spiritual resistance, capable of resisting even Ofuda to a certain extent; though he receives double the damage from powers that specifically target dragons. Because of his draconic heritage, Zakura himself functions in a similar manner to a spiritual energy core with tremendous capacity that generates spiritual particles independent from his body, giving him extra energy to work with in regards to utilizing his techniques; and the power his dragon blood grants him immense resistance to that of spiritual attacks, with only the strongest of techniques being able to successfully harm him. *'Dragon Install' (竜変身 (ドラゴン・インストール), doragoninsutouru, Japanese for "Draconic Transformation"): Zakura's standard ability; Dragon Install enables him to gain characteristics typical of a dragon: lungs capable of spewing flames, scales that grant protection against fire, and nails covered in flames. However, only in his Crimson Sovereign form can he manifest a full dragon, so for now, Zakura opts to manifest Dragon Install as separate draconic limbs; though this doesn't make the ability any less deadly. Zakura's spiritual energy surrounds him, before compressing upon his body and solidifying, merging with fire in order to reappear as a draconic full-body armour that is inspired by medieval, futuristic, and even mythological armours. Possessing several shining emerald gems upon her elbows, backs of his hands, chest, knees, and feet, this armour is illuminated illustriously by the fires sprouting from his body. The armour that covers his arms, abdomen, and legs appears very similar to a dragon's spine, jutting out in a funnel-like shape to provide extra protection. There are several golden protrusions on his hips, elbows, and jaws that appear similar to a dragon's fangs. The pauldrons of the suit are rounded, yet they retain that dragon-like feel. Lastly, the helmet which covers his face allows his hazel eyes to be represented and possesses a crimson half-crown that adorns the metal; overall, it is a fearsome sight to behold. **'Scale Mail' (赤龍の鎧 (スケイ・ルメイル), sukeirumeiru, Japanese for "Armour of the Crimson Dragon", English for "Scale Mail"): By vibrating the flames that composes the armour at supersonic speeds, Zakura causes friction within the armour, setting them ablaze. This has the added effect of causing the armour to take upon a vibrating form, causing the flames to surround his body in a continually rippling manner, whirling around his body all the while. This essentially creates an extremely sturdy defensive armour around the actual armour that allows Zakura to not only increase his defensive power, but also his physical power as the flames are constantly surrounding his body and flowing in and out as well as spinning around him. Zakura's usage of this technique is shown through the increase in density of his spiritual energy. When alight, Zakura's arms and legs deal twice the damage they would normally output; he can also unleash waves of fire up to and including fireballs that cause a large amount of damage from his hands and feet on a whim at a rapid pace, allowing him to constantly bombard his foe with a seemingly never-ending shower of flames. Inherent Skill Zakura's Inherent Skill (先天固有技能(インヒューレントスキル) , inhyūrentosukiru, shortened to IS) is known as Kūsōgen (空想現, Fantasy Manifestation). Befitting the Emperor of Crimson Sovereigns, the ability is tremendously powerful and definitely something that could break reality; it is the ability to materialize a vision—because Zakura, as a Crimson Sovereign, has his will connected to nature, he is able to manipulate it as he wishes and transform the surrounding world at will according to his desires. As Zakura is part of nature, he can change the world as he desires, but in the end, what the blood-sucking god can act on is only something within the scope of nature—but because he is the Emperor of Crimson Sovereigns, he can alter the world in any way that he desires without any limitations. Things that are separate from nature, such as Hollowification, cannot be achieved unless Zakura performs the deed himself. On the other hand, Hollows can be manipulated y Zakura. The most common utilization of this ability is to turn layers of the atmosphere into a vacuum which slices anything—there is no way to avoid being chopped in pieces by the atmosphere. Zanpakutō Kyokuhiryūen (旭日竜炎, Flames of the Rising Sun Dragon) is the name of Zakura's Zanpakutō. When sealed, it takes the awe-inspiring form of a two-handed, golden greatsword with a green jewel embedded in the hilt that boasts a magnificence and enormity possible only for weapons tended to by inhuman hands. It should be noted that Kyokuhiryūen is only utilized as a last resort for Zakura, who prefers to rely on his own honed skills instead of "the power of a magical, sentient sword". However, it should be noted that when Tsukasa was the dormant one, he utilized Kyokuhiryūen quite liberally without thinking about any disadvantages. Shikai (始解, "Initial Release"): When in Shikai, Kyokuhiryūen transforms into a lightsaber-like beam weapon with a fluid-formed blade, less like a sword in the actual sense. Zakura can utilize the beam that spews from the hilt of his Zanpakutō for powerful whipping attacks, able to attack from almost any distance by pumping spiritual energy into the blade, causing it to shoot forward at high speeds. The weapon's most interesting characteristic is the sheer amount of force it can dole out to enemies; it is able to easily slice through 300 mm of reinforced steel in a single stroke. Shikai Special Abilities: In Shikai, Kyokuhiryūen has the ability to manipulate solar energy; that is to say that Zakura is capable of manipulating intense heat comparable to that of solar flares—going by that, able to manipulate all aspects of the sun's power as well, including its immense heat, luminosity, gravitational field, magnetic field, nuclear energy and reaction, and much more. The solar energy he manipulates is incredibly deadly; it is somewhat acidic in properties, and can melt most substances frighteningly quickly. The generated heat can be manipulated in a wide variety of ways, their "type" can be changed at will, and they can even be given a somehow material consistency. Such heat has a "piercing" effect to it, causing penetrating damage alongside devouring. It should be noted that Zakura is capable of focusing the entirety of the solar energy on his person, absorbing the force of the flames to the point where his power multiplies by several factors for a several minutes. *'Karyūshōha' (火龍焼破, Burning Destruction of the Fire Dragon): The special attack of Zakura's Zanpakutō; akin to Gai's Shining Onslaught, though it's power is more in league with the Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught of the Soul King, Kazuma Nagareboshi; this attack is also available in the Zanpakutō's sealed state. Raising his blade above his head, the sword begins to charge with an orange light of blinding brilliance, causing most to avert their eyes upon seeing it. The twilight swells around the sword, before converging at a singular point—the tip of the sword; intensifying the kinetic energy that is about to be released by convergence and acceleration, he unleashes a massive horizontal slash of flame that erupts outwards and "purifies the very soul", releasing it as a flash of light; a surging wave of orange light that was conceptualized for the simple purpose of absolute destruction. However, when compared to the straight line of Shining Onslaught, Karyūshōha is a wave of twilight that is released in a semicircle that is centered around Zakura. It should be noted that while Shining Onslaught collects the lights from the universe to unleash a blow as powerful as a Big Bang, Karyūshōha is said to represent the rays of heat from the sun; a supernova, to be exact. Karyūshōha is most useful when activated towards the end of a battle between high-level opponents, since the area will be saturated with excess energy from their attacks. It is a recycling of the spiritual energy just used and spread over the battlefield. Therefore, even though Zakura has been exhausted from spiritual energy, the ability can still be invoked. *'Haō Harishōken' (覇王・玻璃翔剣, "Vortigern: Crystal Flying Sword"): The Zanpakutō's most basic ability; by condensing stray spiritual energy upon the blade, it becomes charged and immersed in power. In an instant, the layer of heat which surrounds the Zanpakutō normally attaches itself to the spiritual particles, heating it up. Swinging his mighty blade forward, Zakura releases this blazing spiritual energy in the arc of the sword's swing, moulding and shooting it forward in the form of a crescent moon or arc of fire. As it travels through the air, launching at Zakura's foe, it erodes everything it touches with frightening ease, though by doing this, the arc begins to decrease in size; however, by becoming smaller, it's speed is increased drastically, but it becomes slightly weaker the longer it travels. Despite all of this, Haō Harishōken remains extremely powerful, and it is said that it will chase Zakura's foe down until the ends of the earth. *'Kajitō Henkajin' (火事刀・片華塵, "Conflagration Sword: Shard Blossom Dust"): By condensing stray spiritual energy upon the blade, the Zanpakutō becomes charged and immersed in power. In an instant, the layer of heat which surrounds the Zanpakutō normally attaches itself to the spiritual particles, heating them up. These burning spiritual particles gather at a single point on the blade- the tip. With a single swing of the Zanpakutō, Zakura releases these spiritual particles in the form of several thousand clusters of flames in the form of jagged spheres which shoot towards his foe at high speeds; because of Zakura's Crimson Sovereign life energy, these scaly clusters go berserk, before homing in upon Zakura's foe in a similar manner to heat seeking missiles, all with the intent of bombarding them all at once. The blazing clusters possess incredible strength, as their intense heat enables them to tear through obstructions in their way of the foe as if they were nothing. Upon impact, they shatter and release the scales that they are composed of towards their target, with little to no time to evade because of the close-range. Bankai (卍解, Final Release): Tenmashittsui Kyokuhiryūen (天魔失墜旭日竜炎, The Downfall of the Sky Demon calls forth the Flames of the Rising Sun Dragon): In Bankai, Zakura's attire does not change, but his Zanpakutō does gain an aura of flame around it's blade. Bankai Special Abilities: In Bankai, Zakura's Crimson Sovereign energy and his spiritual energy destabilizes when he utilizes his solar manipulation, breaking it down immediately causing it to split, to the same effect as nuclear fission. Doing so, his Crimson Sovereign energy's fission releases a tremendous amount of energy. When this energy interacts with the atmosphere it energizes and accelerates the ambient spiritual particles, transforming them into a thick aura of scarlet plasma, befitting his race. This new energy has an absolutely overwhelming amount of destructive power; it is capable of dishing out damage on the molecular level, disintegrating anything that it touches with relative ease; but to those who survive this plasma, there is something much worse. Unlike the superficial flames of Zanka no Tachi, this scarlet plasma acts as a fast-acting poison which is capable of inflicting many painful effects upon the victim, such as intense headaches, nausea, fever, sickness, muscle spasms, and the ultimate deterioration of the foe's bodily functions; meaning that if one of it's attacks doesn't kill the foe, the effects will as their body is violently dismantled, piece by piece, causing the foe to suffer an agonizing death; and then their corpse will be disintegrated by the scarlet plasma. *'Ultra Speed Combat:' When Zakura releases his Bankai, he takes all the power of the scarlet plasma and expels them outwards on his back in the form of three pairs of crimson wings, akin to the Seraphim of Judaism; doing so grants Zakura the incredible abilities of insurmountably high-speed combat and high-speed flight. The speed granted right in the Final Release is so incredible that it enables Zakura to disregard the need for his already impressive Crimson Step with his lightning-quick movements, capable of creating a multitude of afterimages composed from scarlet plasma to confound his foe. Unlike regular afterimages, these images still contain mass, allowing Zakura to pull off numerous blows to his opponent from all angles—and if a foe touches an afterimage, they will be burned. *'Enhanced Bankai Duration:' In addition, because Zakura's powers and reiatsu are condensed to their utmost limit and thus doesn't expel as much reiryoku as other Bankai once activated, this means that he can keep his Bankai activated for much longer than most other spiritual beings with the same release. *'Enhanced Karyūshōha': In Bankai, Karyūshōha is very much Zakura's trump card. Ordinarily merely a powerful blast from his sword, in Bankai, Karyūshōha is bestowed with the sweltering heat effect of the scarlet plasma before firing. Thus, an attack which already had a wide range of effectiveness to begin with, has its effective range further widened and its power exceptionally raised. While the result is always what looks like a massive wave of solar energy, only the tip of the attack, which is an arc is capable of doing damage, as the arc is the result of the inversion of everything the attack destroys in its path. Its performance is to the point of being compared to nuclear weapons; being capable of taking down gods in this state. *'Tenkanna Byakuya' (天神無白夜, Godless Heaven of the Midnight Sun): One of Tenmashittsui Kyokuhiryūen's most powerful attacks, in no small part due to its overwhelming capability for absolute destruction. Utilizing Tenkanna Byakuya, Zakura unleashes all of his spiritual energy, before converging and compressing it into the form of a pitch-black molten orb of pure plasma. Due to being compressed, the energy inside of the sphere's energetic state is augmented drastically, causing a violent chain reaction, gathering an insurmountable amount of energy before Zakura punches the sphere forward, causing the orb to break apart violently, unleashing an overwhelming wave of pure concentrated heat that is capable of incinerating anything that crosses its path of the area. This attack possesses incredible range, and it is capable of shattering even the most sturdy of defenses. *'Keitenkō Hadōgatotsu' (炯天光波牙動突, The Penetrating Divine Light of the Surging Fanged Thrust): Zakura's ultimate attack in Bankai; he scatters an enormous amount of spiritual energy into the surrounding atmosphere which rests directly above him; which, with a snap of his fingers, undergoes a series of chain reactions, Crimson Sovereign energy clashing against spiritual energy—this results in a vicious split of the energies, unleashing insurmountable quantities of raw heat and power, slowly, but surely manifesting an enormous corona of molten flame which quickly expands, transforming into a miniature supernova. Thrusting his blade forwards in the direction of his opponent, Zakura shoots the condensed heat towards his foe—upon impact, it explodes spectacularly, unleashing an enormous wave that shines outwards in the form of a golden dome expanding in all directions, consuming and vaporizing everything in it's proper range. This attack has an absolutely enormous area of effect, leaving naught but a nuclear wasteland in its wake. Vermillion Overdrive (朱色上気迫, Shuiro Uekihaku): As the Emperor of the Crimson Sovereigns and the originator of the Crimson Sovereign race, Zakura's true form is called the Origin of Species, Apocalypse Dragon (種の起原・黙示録, Shunokigen Mokishirokuryū), in addition, it is also referred to as the True Crimson Dragon God Emperor (真赤龍神帝, Shinakaryū Shintei) due to it's sheer power. Should he remove the seal on his forehead, he will transform into his true form, a dragon-like creature with The Twin Blades of the Emperor wrapped in infernal flames shaped into a sword. However, it had been stated that even in this form, Zakura never actually goes all out, which may suggest an even more drastic transformation should he release it all. This form represents Zakura's completion, and is only achieved when Zakura and Tsukasa come to terms with each other in the penultimate chapter of Zakura's arc; though curiously, Zakura doesn't use it in the final battle against Koumori. Vermillion Overdrive Special Abilities: When in his true form, Zakura's solar manipulation is enhanced drastically. However, it has one major difference; the manifestation and control of the heat and energy is performed internally, making them lightyears more powerful. When the Crimson Sovereign energy of Zakura and his spiritual energy clash and swiftly separate, they instantly release an overwhelming amount of power which is scattered into the atmosphere which Zakura can recycle; this enables the heat to be at such temperatures that it's comparable to that of a solar flare; at it's full strength, the strength of Zakura's flames are capable of burning the foe's soul out of existence. The attacks that Zakura unleashes in Vermillion Overdrive exceed any other attack of his, and as such, he only utilizes a single attack to finish his foes. *'Enhanced Swordsmanship': Through mere thought, Zakura can unleash numerous blows as the twin blades spin and twirl, dealing "grinding" damage. The blades act as though they have minds of their own; Zakura effortlessly sends them slicing into enemies with a flick of his wrist, and launches into long strings of attacks, engulfed in flame, that pierce right through enemies' defenses. *'Enhanced Physical Attributes': When in his true form, Zakura's attributes are drastically enhanced; because, with a simple swing of his sword, Zakura is capable of manifesting a violent tremor that obliterates the ground it comes into contact with and knock his foes away; in addition, his blows with his blade and unarmed are positively overwhelming and can be bone-shattering. In addition, his endurance has been upped significantly; enabling the Crimson Sovereign Emperor to receive damage like it was nothing and ignore all senses of pain—though it should be noted that this varies on the factor of how powerful the blow is. Finally, Zakura's naturally immense swiftness is augmented to the point that he forgoes any need for Crimson Step, enabling him to keep up with the likes of Kazuma and Gai. *'Taikyoku no Kyokuhiryūen' (太極の火龍焼破, "The Supreme Ultimate Burning Destruction of the Fire Dragon"): The ultimate technique of Zakura's; it is akin to Kyūkyoku no Keizen Yakushin utilized by Kagirinai Nagareboshi, and, of course, the Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō; enabling Zakura to take upon a new form for a time. Of course, what differentiates this from the other two is that upon entering Vermillion Overdrive, Zakura is constantly in this form. It essentially enables Zakura to become one with his powers, both Crimson Sovereign powered and Shinigami powered. **'Tenshōha' (天照覇, The Command of Amaterasu): The strongest technique that Zakura is in possession of; when activating it, he first swings his fiery blade to the left, gathering Crimson Sovereign energy on the sword. He then swings it right, gathering reiatsu on the sword and perfectly melding the two energies. However, this union of Yin and Yang would not last for long; as while swinging his blade towards his opponent, he focuses the energies a linear fashion and releases them, causing them to take upon their true form as azure and scarlet plasma which burns through anything it touches, giving it immense penetration power; upon impacting upon the foe, the plasma devours the vicinity like a wildfire upon their bodies. This power literally burns away the soul of all those caught within it, tearing them straight out of the reincarnation cycle. Despite being Zakura's most powerful attack, it should be noted that Tenshōha focuses on piercing penetrating damage, meaning that his ultimate attack in Bankai can do more damage in the long run. Relationships Yuuki Kaburagi: Yuuki and Zakura's relationship is that of a loving yet twisted one; from Yuuki's perspective, ever since she found Zakura washed up on Amanogawa Beach, it has been love at first sight. Since Yuuki was the first person that Zakura met since contracting amnesia, Zakura has a desire to be needed by Yuuki, and she makes Zakura feel like he belongs. However, it turned out that Yuuki was manipulating him at first to curb her sexual frustration and loneliness. Despite this, Zakura was aware of this and stuck by Yuuki's side to at least feel a sense of togetherness. Though eventually, Yuuki realized that her feelings for Zakura were genuine; and before Zakura almost sealed himself away in Akasekai in the penultimate chapter of his story, Yuuki confessed her love. In Second Rising, it is shown that the two are married and raise children together. However, after the universal reset, Zakura and Yuuki were separated; with Yuuki reincarnating into Abbacchio Leone. It is Zakura's current goal to turn Abbacchio back into Yuuki and regain what he had lost. Tsukasa Tsugami: Zakura, being a cast-off of Tsukasa's soul and then given life to enable Tsukasa to achieve his goals unawares, shares an interesting, if enigmatic relationship with Tsukasa. The two are two sides of the same coin; that is to say that they share a similar relationship to Gai Nagareboshi and Vittoria Giovanna; only that Tsukasa is less supporting of Zakura than Gai is to Vittoria. Tsukasa secretly resents Zakura for being so kind and free-spirited. He also subconsciously admired him and he was jealous of his heroic personality. Mujaki says that Tsukasa is "chasing after" Zakura and he wants to be like him. However, after their fight in their mind, Zakura befriended Tsukasa, who in turn, accepted that Zakura was the dominant personality now. Gallery File:Zakura.png|A full picture of Zakura Terui. File:Zakuranew.jpg|Zakura's casual wear. File:ZakuraLineart.jpg|A full-body sketch of Zakura Terui. File:ZakuraNewProfile.jpg|Zakura's new profile. File:ZakuraCSForm.jpg|Concept art of Zakura's Crimson Sovereign form, the Apocalypse Dragon. Behind the Scenes *The skill of Crimson Step was inspired by Seireitou Kawahiru's Willow Leaf Walk, so thank him for making such a skill in the first place. *Thanks, Hana, for letting me use Nitōryū. Trivia *Zakura's personality was inspired by Kira Yamato of Gundam SEED; as is his fighting style. This continues the long trend of Per-chan's characters having references to the hit series, Mobile Suit Gundam and it's numerous spin-offs. Author's words Zakura is a difficult character to describe. How I created him, well, that's a nice story. When I was suffering from depression last year, I was writing Part IV of Rising Phoenix. Gai was too gloomy and cold for me to muster the strength to write anymore; and writing, is well, my everything. So I had to continue no matter what. My first thoughts were to make a new main character. Somebody who was Gai's polar opposite. Somebody who I could write and make me feel good about what I'm doing. After about a week of writing up this character, I scrapped around twenty concepts before coming up with our beloved Emperor of the Crimson Sovereigns. Sure enough, as I was writing from his POV, I found myself cheering up; it was the first time in a while that I actually enjoyed my future job. In an essence, Zakura was one of the major contributing factors to help me get over my depression. Well; that, and medication and counseling. But seriously, because he helped me move past my constant self-hating and gloomy behaviour, Zakura isn't like any other main character to me. He's like a friend in my eyes. Amusingly enough, by writing from Zakura's POV, after I got over my depression, I ended up taking up traits similar to his! Anyway, off that. I mentioned before that Zakura was designed to be Gai's foil. Zakura mostly dresses in white; Gai is mostly clad in black. Zakura is idealistic; Gai is sarcastic. If you wanna do tropes, Zakura is the patient, soft-spoken blue oni to Gai's outspoken, rebellious red oni. In addition, Gai is a bit of a battle maniac, while Zakura is a pacifist. But most important, while Gai is a Type A Tsundere, Zakura is a bonafide Nice Guy who wouldn't hurt a fly...unless said fly hurt his friends. Interestingly, unlike Gai, who started out as incredibly cold toward other people and only concerned with himself, but grew into a more caring individual as of the final chapters and in Broken Mirror, albeit one with limited patience; Zakura hasn't had much character development because I fear that if I change his personality even slightly, it'll ruin my view of the character who inspired me; though on the whole his character has remained the most consistent with what I was originally trying to portray—a kind, selfless soul. So, while Zakura doesn't get lots of characterization, he spends time giving character development to everyone else. Because of popular demand, Zakura has replaced Gai as my main character—and I quote my bud and partner Aha, "Why you associate yourself with Gai I don't know. Gai is a PRICK." And also, quoting my friend Hana-chan, "You pretty much are Zakura. You're kinda goofy in a good way, you look out for all of us and stick up for us, and you're accepting of pretty much everyone. And you're really nice -w-" Keeping to the foil theme, Zakura was inspired subtly by the characters who were polar opposites to the characters who inspired Gai's personality and abilities. Andromeda Shun from Saint Seiya was a big part; he's kind, selfless, and pacifistic, but push him too far and he's SNAPS. Sounds like Zakura, no? Considering that Gai was sort of based off Phoenix Ikki from the same series...Another one is X from the Mega Man series. Well, this one was unintentional, but I remembered that Gai was somewhat based off Zero from the Mega Man series (who's X's partner and rival), and when I went over X's article on the Mega Man wiki, I was pleasantly surprised about how similar X and Zakura were in backstory and personality. Another one is that Zakura is basically Kira Yamato, while Gai is Athrun Zala. Hilariously, while I hate Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail, I can't deny the similarities between him and Zakura. Both are pink-haired fire users with idiot hero tendencies; in addition, both Natsu and Zakura hold friendship in very high regards. Going by "Natsu is the most powerful Dragon Slayer" theory, then they have even more in common, as Zakura is the strongest Crimson Sovereign. In terms of powers, I derived Zakura's skillset off what would be Gai's polar opposite at first; using kicks to balance Gai's punches, and swords to counter Gai's bare-fisted blows; overall, Zakura had an 'elegant' style to counter Gai's savage fighting style. Also, when I was first starting him, he had a nifty little trinket called a Reisōbi (霊装備, Spirit Gear). For those familiar with Kamen Rider, it basically turned Zakura into ...well, a Kamen Rider; more specifically, one from Kamen Rider Faiz. However, over time, and as of this writing, I've been giving him a massive overhaul; so much so that you'd never know that he was meant to be Gai's foil in fighting style. In terms of his powers, Zakura has always possessed a prominent sun theme in his abilities; though his best attack is to focus that in the form of a sword beam - some of my friends (looking at you, Aha) have even said that I have a sword beam fetish -w- However, I chose the sun theme is extremely fitting; most Crimson Sovereigns have powers related to their personality. The sun provides warmth for all of us, but on a bad day, it will be unbearably hot and melt damn near everything. The same goes for Zakura; he's kind to everyone he meets, but piss him off and he'll snap! Anyway, I hope you all like Zakura as much as I do. Navigation Category:PersonaSuperiorDeus Category:Persona Superior Deus Category:Characters Category:LGBT Characters Category:Original Characters Category:Male Category:Heroes Category:Crimson Sovereigns Category:Protagonists Category:Main Characters Category:Neutral Good